From the NYTimes:‘It’s Totally Ad Hoc’: Why America’s Virus Response Looks Like a Patchwork. For centuries, the United States has resisted a centralized public health policy. This week, as protective measures against the coronavirus varied county to county

The United States, a nation founded on the notion of individual rights and limited federal power, vests key decisions on public health in state and local government. The last week laid bare a dizzying patchwork of local decision-making, as the largest quarantine in recent American history occurred in a juddering, piecemeal fashion.

Here is another take on the system: From the Guardian: America has no real public health system – coronavirus has a clear run, by Robert Reich. ” Trump’s response has been inadequate but the system is rigged anyway. As always, the poor will be hit hardest.”